Nanoscale Imaging of Coordination Compounds and Their Assemblies

The technological challenges of tomorrow promote the continuous growth of approaches to the design and synthesis of coordination compounds and assemblies with appealing electronic, optical, electrochemical and magnetic properties for their applications at nanoscale. The understanding of fundamental underlying processes occurring at metal centres and in their vicinity as well as at the molecular and molecule–electrode interfaces through imaging techniques is key to the development of smart nanostructured materials for the eventual utilization in device fabrication.

The experimental and theoretical studies shedding light on the phenomena and mechanisms that are associated, in particular, with chemical functionalization, electron donor–acceptor properties, redox chemistry, magnetochemical and luminescence effects, interactions with solid support, reactivity between molecules on surfaces, molecular charge and spin transport and energy storage define the scope of this Research Topic.

It aims to feature recent advances in the synthesis, analytical characterization and application of any type of processable coordination compounds and assemblies (e.g., mono-, bi- and polynuclear metal complexes, metal-oxo clusters, metal-organic frameworks, nanocages, etc.) that have been subjected to nanoscale imaging. Submissions of original research articles, reviews and mini-reviews featuring the techniques such as e.g. electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, optical microscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory simulations, that are called to recognize perspectives for fabricated hybrid architectures in future technology, are welcomed.